


naivety and screwing people over

by twinkPrince



Category: Baccano!
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-03
Updated: 2015-02-03
Packaged: 2018-03-10 07:58:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3282842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twinkPrince/pseuds/twinkPrince
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>yeah, in the end, it doesn't really matter what you think people are going to do for you. going through things while abandoning each small expectation one at a time makes life so much easier and less disappointing in the long run.</p>
            </blockquote>





	naivety and screwing people over

**Author's Note:**

> took me like, two years to post anything new. holy shit. how. but yeah now i'm obsessively anime trash again so hooray!

Graham’s not naive, necessarily. Shaft thinks he is, spends way too much time of the short hours given to them each day calling Graham out on it every which way he can, which is honestly just mean and uncalled for. But Graham will maintain, for as long as it takes, that whilst he may like to believe in certain things that aren’t always the best of ideas, he isn’t naive. He knows shit, he gets when things have gone to hell, and he isn’t stupid enough to not notice that his right hand man has long since betrayed him. And Shaft’s a bastard if he thinks he is.

What Graham doesn’t get though is _why_. He likes Shaft, really, doesn’t honestly know the guy too well outside of their friendship (and that’s definitely what it is, fuck whoever says otherwise), but Graham still thinks he’s charming enough. And he thought Shaft liked him back, and that’s enough to win at least 10 good points in Graham’s book. The happenings of someone liking him back have always been few and far between. Then again, even with Shaft, who spends all that time with him, Graham still thinks the guy could stand to like him a little more. Not love though, not quite. Hard to love someone when you know they’re slowly selling you out, piece by piece, one small enveloped fee at a time. So sad, so sad. 

When Shaft had first joined up Graham’s gang, he honestly hadn’t been much to care about. Quiet, nondescript, and a bit of a dick. Graham’s not gonna ask what happened, and is content to just come up with his own theories on his own and occasionally share them with Boss Smith or someone. He’s not gonna _ask_ though, that’d be out of the question, no doubt. Doesn’t mean he can’t hypothesize. Whatever it is, Graham thinks that Shaft is better off for it. Shaft _likes_ Graham now, spends time with him, is actually helpful beyond being one of the few of them who had a car. Pretty nice car too, always looks like it’d be so _good_ to take apart, piece by piece, send it back to Shaft one bit of scrap metal at a time. Ironic too, or at least Graham thinks so. It’s been a while since he’s checked the definition of the word, and when you have so many fascinating thoughts racing through your head barely able to be vocalized all at the one time, it can get difficult to remember every single word you ever read vaguely in a book one time when you were eleven. 

* * *

 

It’s from that guy with the scissors that Graham finds out. “The Daily Days,” he smiles, clicking the scissors together. “I thought you might want to know, but when I was there the other day, for Mr Luck, I saw your friend.”

“Now isn’t that something,” Graham grins back, “how interesting that someone that I consider so close to me has been spending time there of all places. Do you have any idea what he was doing? If you don’t, I’d appreciate it most dearly if you’d come up with an answer for me anyway. Otherwise, well, you only really have half the information I need, don’t you? And what good is that to me in the end.”

“Selling information, I presume,” Mr Scissors draws out the last syllable, and his smile slips slightly. Good. Didn’t he understand what a horribly, horribly sad event this was that was currently happening? You can’t smile when such a tragedy is occurring! Everybody knows that.

“Well aren’t you just full of deductive reasoning and astute thought processes,” Graham leans forward, resting his weight on his wrench and trying to get a better impression of Mr Scissors’ expression. Blankly cheerful. Not helpful. “And you decided to share this with me, why? Out of the goodness of your heart? You thought it would be relevant to me for some reason? Even then, still doesn’t explain why you went out of your way to tell me. Just because you think you should do something for someone doesn’t mean you inevitably will. God, any average human would just watch it unfold as I’m slowly betrayed, and by my favorite subordinate no less. So tragic. Isn’t this a sad, sad tale? Right?”

Mr Scissors just shrugged at that, and Graham decides it’s probably for the best he didn’t have that guy on his side. What was the point of having a friend who wouldn’t even indulge in casual conversation every now and then? Honestly, just rude really. 

* * *

 

“You like newspapers?” Graham asks Shaft, a few days later, “been hearing a lot about that Daily Days place lately, all sorts around there, ain’t there? Apparently you could get anything you wanted from there. Wonder if they could get us Boss Ladd back.”  


“Not entirely sure that’s what they sell, boss,” Shaft replies absently, “think it’s just information. They could tell you he’s at Alcatraz, sure, but I dunno how good they’d go at producing him for you.”

“I suppose you think that’s just common logic now don’t you?” Graham sighs, falls back to lean against Shaft’s shoulder. He can’t exactly remember what they’re doing here, parked outside some apartment complex in Shaft’s car, but he’s not complaining. Gives him plenty opportunity to talk some. 

“Let me tell you a sad, sad, story. It features a man who was so damn pedantic and difficult that his closest and most dear friend couldn’t work out what to make of him, and whenever this amazing friend thought he’d finally be able to get something really good out of him, the man would just be so offhandedly cruel and abrasive. Do you know who we are in the story?”

“I can guess.”

“Of course you can, because you’re a smart guy aren’t you? I keep you around cause you’re smart, and I love you, obviously, but I hired you cause you’re smart. You know that?”  


“I love you too, boss,” a slight smile tugged at the corned of Shaft’s mouth, and Graham frowned slightly. Not quite the reaction he was going for yet. Especially not with that level of amusement and sarcasm. It doesn’t hurt though, because Graham’s not going to let it.

He reaches back in to the backseat of the car, and grips the handle of his wrench. It’s not his usual, a little smaller than he’d like, but they’re in the car after all, and he wants this precise. He brings the wrench up, and when Shaft glances out the window next, presses it against the other man’s throat. The horrible choking noise this forces out isn’t at all pleasant, and Graham has to swallow back the urge to soothe and comfort. 

“The Daily Days,” he says again, “I hear you’re a regular there, so don’t lie to me, Shaft. I can’t stand it when someone I love so callously lies to me. Are you trying to hurt me? Is that what this is about? Is that why you’ve decided to go ahead and sell me out, and I know it’s me, why else would you keep it a secret? Are you going to answer me?”  


“Sure boss, but I can’t really breathe right now,” Shaft gasps out, and Graham slackens his grip on the wrench, letting it fall back from Shaft’s throat. The bruising already looks so pretty against the pale skin. Graham reaches out, and ignores Shaft’s flinch when he brushes his fingers across the purpling marks.

“So? You gonna answer me now?” Graham murmurs, keeps his fingers pressing softly against Shaft’s skin.

Shaft sighs, and shifts away from Graham slightly before opening his mouth. “I stop by there sometimes, a lot of people do, and sometimes they ask how I’m going. Not my fault they offer money for it.”

“How are you doing?” Graham asks, “we spend a lot of time together, right? If you’re telling them about all the precious moments you’ve shared with me, then I’d say that’s an invasion of my privacy, wouldn’t you agree?”

“I don’t think that’s how it works, so not really. But sure, I mention you sometimes. It’s not you they’re interested in though, so you can quit looking so murderous any time now.”

“I don’t know whether to be relieved that you haven’t betrayed me entirely, or pissed off that you don’t find me interesting enough to sell out. I’m a fascinating guy, you could sell some of the shit I say and I’d be able to retire from the earnings alone it’d be so damn popular! Maybe I should do that, actually, not a half bad idea.”

“You’d be arrested for the amount of criminal activity listed,” Shaft smile is a little strained, but hey, Graham will take what he can get. 

“Still, it hurts me that you wouldn’t share this with me. I share everything about my life with you and yet you’d keep such a devious act secret from me. If you haven’t turned on me then why keep quiet about it? Didn’t you say you loved me?”

“That was before you held a wrench at my neck, I’m kidding, calm down,” Shaft backtracked quickly when Graham’s fingers flexed around said wrench, and placed his hand over Graham’s own where it was still resting at his throat. “Seriously, boss, you might be kind of a pain, but I’m not going to ditch you just like that, especially in favour of the Daily Days.”

“Well then, if we are in love then it’s only fair that I believe you, right?”

“Never said we were _in_ love.”

“We should be. But that doesn’t matter now, you can tell me about anything you want, right? I mean, I reserve the right to disagree, but considering that you’re always shutting me down on such wonderful things, it’s only fair, don’t you think so?”

“Course, boss,” Shaft drops his hand away, and Graham does the same. “You ready to go home?”

Graham’s jaw twitched slightly, but he forces a smile on to his face. “Yeah, sure, no problem. Your place?”

“You’re not _that_ homeless.”

Graham laughs, dropping his wrench on to the backseat of the car as Shaft started driving again.

* * *

 

He wasn’t naive, and god Shaft was such a terrible liar. Still, it was certainly important to place at least the smallest amount of trust in someone you love, and Graham definitely loved Shaft. Hadn’t he said something different to that earlier? Well, he’s just been lying then, that was fine. Lying to yourself wasn’t as bad as lying to someone that you were going to then claim affection towards. 

Graham eyes follow the bruises, and he thinks about how wonderfully panicked Shaft had looked when Graham had started choking him, wondered if it would be worth it to try again sometime. Perhaps if he was betrayed again. And knowing how utterly terrible Shaft could be, that was almost inevitable. If Shaft ever betrayed him in a way that was just too unforgivable (intolerable? hard to tell), well, Graham would just have to break him. Even if it hurt to do so, there was no way he could just _allow_ some one to act so callously towards him. That was an unspeakable act of cruelty at the best of times, and the fact that it was _Shaft_ made it an outright crime of treason.   



End file.
